Cougars roll past Marymount, Gonzaga survives in WCC tournament

For a few moments as he lay in pain on a basketball floor in Moraga, Calif., on Feb. 15, Kyle Collinsworth was convinced his season was over.

Many Brigham Young fans were probably feeling the same way about their team’s promising season for those few anxious minutes after seeing him go down awkwardly fighting for a long rebound against Saint Mary’s and writhing on the floor in obvious pain as he grabbed his right knee.

But the sophomore never missed a game. In fact, he only went to the locker room for a few minutes.

Collinsworth finished the game, and as soon as he learned there was no ligament tear, it was time to start preparing for a pivotal home game with Gonzaga five days later.

Collinsworth struggled to a 4-of-11 shooting night and eight points against the Bulldogs, but helped BYU to a win. It was just the third time all year Collinsworth had been held below 10 points, and he didn’t play like his first-team all-conference self in two more victories to close out the regular season, either.

Then came Saturday’s West Coast Conference tournament quarterfinal game against Loyola Marymount at Orleans Arena.

Collinsworth scored 16 of his game- and career-high 23 points in the first half and grabbed 16 rebounds as the second-seeded Cougars advanced to the semifinals with an 85-74 victory.

In the most dramatic game of the day, top-seeded Gonazaga (26-6) survived a scare to advance to the semifinals with a 77-75 win over ninth-seeded Santa Clara (14-19) on David Stockton’s coast-to-coast layup with less than two seconds remaining.

The Bulldogs have appeared in 16 straight WCC tournament championship games, but were in serious jeopardy of an early exit. Gonzaga took its first lead of the second half on a Stockton layup with 3:29 remaining.

Collinsworth made sure there were no such heroics needed in BYU’s comfortable win.

“I think he’s a very special player,” Loyola Marymount coach Max Good said. “They’ve got a lot of great players, and it’s not just what he did today, but I just believe he is just very special.”

Good has plenty of evidence to support his belief. Collinsworth had 18 and 20 points in two regular-season wins over the Lions (13-19), who were seeded No. 10 after finishing last in the league.

Those meetings were in the regular season, though. The postseason has always been where Collinsworth was expected to play his biggest role for this team, and that started to show on Saturday. Collinsworth was a member of the 2011 BYU team that made the Sweet 16, and he brings that experience to a team with no seniors.

“I just stayed aggressive from the start. That was a big part of our game plan,” Collinsworth said. “I’ve got experience playing in big games and tournaments and stuff, so I wanted to set an example for my teammates.”

After that NCAA Tournament run, Collinsworth said he touched a basketball no more than five times in a two-year period as he served his mission in Vladivostok, Russia, returning in May.

That’s part of what made Collinsworth’s injury so frustrating. Even though he was able to play through it, he thought he was just starting to feel like his old self.

He remembers getting up particularly high for a dunk in a December game and thinking how it just felt right again.

Then came the injury.

“I thought right away I tore something and my season was done,” he said. “But people think just because it’s not torn, nothing happened. It’s been painful and tough to play on. I’ve just been working hard and doing a lot of therapy.”

While it was sore after Saturday’s game, he said he will be fine when the Cougars play third-seeded San Francisco (21-10), which advanced with a 69-60 win over sixth-seeded San Diego (16-16), at 8:30 p.m. Monday.

A healthy Collinsworth could help BYU end a postseason tournament title drought that dates to 2001.

He set the tone early Saturday with back-to-back putbacks of offensive rebounds to open the game, helping catapult BYU (22-10) to a 26-10 lead it would maintain throughout.

“He was just so aggressive and crashing the boards every time on the offensive end,” said BYU leading scorer Tyler Haws, who finished with 22 points. “He got a few easy buckets and was just knocking down shots. We kind of fed off his energy the entire game.”

The Dons will be waiting for them in the semifinals after Avry Holmes scored 19 points and Tim Derksen came off the bench for 15 points and six rebounds in the win over the Toreros.

Sam Dower went 15-for-15 from the free-throw line to finish with 23 points for Gonzaga. Jared Brownridge scored a game-high 24 points for Santa Clara, but his game-tying jumper with nine seconds remaining went for naught after Stockton’s heroics.

The Bulldogs will face fourth-seeded Saint Mary’s (22-10), an 80-69 winner over Pepperdine (15-16), at 6 p.m. Monday.

Brad Waldow had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Gaels. Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s had met in the championship game every year since 2009.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.